- He defines object-oriented ontology as ‘an emerging philosophical movement committed to a unique form of realism and nonanthropocentric thinking’ (2)
- Page 4/5 interesting, on the geology of humans – again followed up on page 7 talking about the date of the end of the world – ‘It was April 1784, when James Watt patented the steam engine, an act that commenced the depositing of carbon in the Earth’s crust – namely, the inception of humanity as a geophysical force on a planetary scale.’ – he also refers to the first testing and dropping of nuclear bombs – ‘These events mark the logarithmic increase in the actions of humans as a geophysical force. They are of “world-historical” importance for humans – and indeed for any life-forms within range of the fallout – demarcating a geological period, the largest-scale terrestrial era.’
- Also an idea of a geophilosophy
- Talking about ‘discoveries of 1900’ as allowing ‘water, quanta, spacetime to be seen’ – one example he gives is ‘Monet began to allow colours and brushstrokes to liberate themselves from specific forms, and the water in which the lilies floated, exhibited on the curving walls of the Orangerie, became the true subject of his painting.’
- (11) ‘Monet has started painting water lilies; or rather, he had started to paint space in which water lilies float; or rather, he had started to paint the rippling, reflective object in which the lilies float – the water. Just as Einstein discovered a rippling, flowing spacetime, where previously objects had just floated in a void, Monet discovered the sensuous spaciousness of the canvas itself.’
- He speaks a lot of ‘the [strange] Kantian gap between phenomenon and thing’ – he gives examples, the biggest of which is obviously a hyperobject (page 12 ish)
- (17) ‘we are always inside an object’
- Start of page 21 talks briefly about the interaction of capitalism with ‘raw materials’
- (22) ‘All humans, I shall argue, are now aware that they have entered a new phase of history in which nonhumans are no longer excluded or merely decorative features of their social, psychic, and philosophical space.’
- (look through the book for art references ** – he says there are some near the end)
- (23) ‘Since it is not possible for me not to anthropomorphize, since I am a human, the first part of the book will also contain some thoughts on hyperobjects as they pertain to humans.’
(TBC)
Anna Harris 